Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Light distance and ranging (LIDAR) is an optical remote sensing technology that may be utilized to acquire information on a surrounding environment. The acquired information may include distances and textures of objects in the surrounding environment. A LIDAR device may be configured to illuminate the objects with light, detect light reflected from the objects, and determine information on the objects based on the reflected light. The LIDAR device may use ultraviolet, visible, or infrared light to illuminate and acquire information on a variety of different types of objects, such as metallic and non-metallic items, geological formations, and even atmospheric elements.
In operation, the LIDAR device may be configured to perform a periodic sweep of the surrounding environment to locate and identify objects in the environment. In this case, the LIDAR device may include a rotating mirror configured to direct light towards and detect light from objects in the environment within a range of angles. Detection of the reflected light may be used to determine a distance and texture of an object, and an angular position of the mirror when light is directed and detected may be used to determine a direction of the object.